Hello, my name is Ian Abijah and I am a British soldier in training. I have chosen to defend my country and fight on the front lines. My country first got involved in the war when Germany decided to break rules and invade Belgium who had declared that they were going to stay neutral during the war. It was then that my country decided that if they were going to break laws and invade neutral countries they could cause serious problems and we had to put a stop to it. Also a reason behind Britain's entry was that of an alliance with France. Britain, France, and Russia all have an alliance ( known as the Triple Entente). When Germany declared war on France and Russia it was in our alliance to defend our fellow friends.
The assasination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand was a shock for many countries but if you were to ask me I think the guy kinda had it coming. I don't mean murdering the man was the best approach but for years and years Serbia has been trying to gain it's independance from Austria-Hungarian rule but they refuse to listen. The Black Hand Gang ( the group that actually shot the Duke) were trying to do what they felt was right and necessary for their country, though they took it to an extreme not very much needed. In Britian not a lot of people really had an opinion about the assasination and most say we just entered this war to prove that we have better naval power than Germany thinks it has. Which in all honesty we do ! But still, there is more important reasoning behind our entry, the largest being an alliance that we intend to fulfil, the ignorance of the German's for breaking into a neutral country that had no intention of entering the war, and a minute amount of competitive nature.
^^^The poster above is the one that first got me interested in the war. It was hanging on the window of a pawn shop right down the road from my house back home. It's got a catching slogan and it made me feel proud to be a "fit Briton" as the poster calls it, that's why I joined.
When I first told my mother I was going to join the war she nearly lost her head. I swear I had never seen that woman so mad! She went on ranting and raving about how dangerous it was for a "boy" of my age to do such a thing. But regardless of what she though I was still determined to go. My father thought it was a great idea, saying it would teach me responsibility and something about how military makes a boy a man and blah blah. I just wanted to be able to hold a gun that didn't shoot BB's. But anyways, me and my friend George went to sign up and within a day we got a response and were on our way to the training base. We went to a small camp and learned the basics like shoot and loading artilary and all that. Then from there we were shipped to the actual base where you stayed before they send you to the front ( I have a week until I leave!). It was here that we were taught our "game plan" for the war, basically the battle plan for how we were going to approach the Western Front. We are going to join our allies at the front and we will be divided into three different groups; artilery, machine boys, and OTT men (OTT- over the top). I hope I get to be a machine boy because I LOVE machine guns, plus it is the safest position in my opinion. Not that I am afraid, I mean c'mon, its just a few Germans.
Day One: Well today is the day me and George leave out for France. We were told yesterday that the Germans have now pushed the front down closer to Paris so we have some serious work to do. Neither myself nor George could sleep last night because of all our excitment so we sat there with a few of our other crew men and exchanged family photos and such .family_photo.jpg< That's the picture I had in my billfold, it's very old but it's all I have of the family. (I'm on the far left.) It was nice to meet everyone we would be with until this war was over. A lot of the soldiers think it won't last long because once Germany sees how much they have to fight, especially with Russia running the eastern side and us the western, they have no choice but to surrender. Oh and great news, I get to be a machine boy!
Month Two: It's been a really bad couple of weeks for us. Nearly forty men have already died, all over the top men..I sent a letter home for mom and dad but they haven't wrote back yet. George got a letter from his mother back home, she said his older brother Tom who is in the army as well mailed her and has gone mad. Evidently he has what they call "hallucinations" and he's got real bad shell shock. The army sent him home on acount of his insanity and all. The news hit George real hard, his brother was quite an inspiration to him. Not to mention Tom was the hardest of all the boys in our town, it's crazy to see what the war can do to you. I just hope I'm strong enough to get through it..
trenches.jpg This is just a picture of our trench we sleep in, it's no bed but it's the best we have. overthetop.jpg These are some of the OTT men, my friend Steven is on the right.
Month Three: We got news today that Russia withdraw from the war. At first we were mad but it's for their own good I guess, they have a lot of economic problems and stuff going wrong in their country. But the good news is The United States of America has decided to join in the absence of Russia so I have a pretty good feeling about it. They have a lot of men and their pretty well industrialized, our sergent said the Americans know what they're doing so there is no need to worry. Hoo rah!
Month Four: I've got myself a new machine gun buddy, his name is John and he is from the U.S. He said he's real glad he came to join this war because he's never been to another counrty before and I thought that was kind of weird. I guess back at his home in Utah he was poor, he said all he did was farm from when the sun came up til it went down. He and I both think the war will be coming to an end here soon, hopefully, these trenches get mighty cold at night time. Especially with all the snow we've been having.
Month Five: Today was Christmas day. It was actually a pretty nice Christmas, not as good as the one's at home but still it was good for being in a war and all. One of the German's from the other side came walking and waving a flag. At first we thought we should shoot him but he looked sorta scared so we let him come and talk. He told us that him and the other Germans wanted to take a day off from shooting at each other on account of how today was the day Christ was born. We agreed and exchanged candy for cigarettes and alll that fun stuff. Then we had a game of football, John called it soccer but I'd never heard it called that before. But nevertheless it was a fun game, just like on the field back at home minus the sunshine and safety and added the guns and dead bodies..
My Homecoming: Today was the day I arrived home from leaving the war. It is so great to be back with my family and local friends. The countries have called an armistice, or at least that is the word from our sergent right before he told us we were free to go get our belongings and head home. Eventhough they called an armistice we all know who was really to blame, just no one will say it. Me and George had a long talk about how glad we were that we made it through this and he thanked me for beinga great pal to him when he kinda lost it about his brother. The night before we left when we got the good news there was a big party at our fort. Some of the other soldiers brought our saved up food and shared and an artilery fireman named David brought out a harmonica his mother sent him for Christmas. It was such a great night we all almost forgot about how cold the trenches were. We were all so releived and excited that this was finally settled.
Treaty Of Versailles: Today our leader, Lloyd George, signed a treaty that brought a final ending to the war. We won almost all issues that we had pressed for and were altogether pleased with the outcome. Germany was blamed for the war, it may not exactly be fair but it's what they get for attacking first. We got some of their colonies and lands they owned which was great because it increased our overseas empires while taking some of the German power away from them. We also got quite a few of their African and Middle Eastern "mandates" as my father called them. I guess those are territories that were once owned by Germans but now we're to control them until they canbecome their own independent little nations and such.All in all I think this war was ok, I know that there will never be another "World War" and that is for sure. This was indeed a war to end all wars.
Hello, my name is Ian Abijah and I am a British soldier in training. I have chosen to defend my country and fight on the front lines. My country first got involved in the war when Germany decided to break rules and invade Belgium who had declared that they were going to stay neutral during the war. It was then that my country decided that if they were going to break laws and invade neutral countries they could cause serious problems and we had to put a stop to it. Also a reason behind Britain's entry was that of an alliance with France. Britain, France, and Russia all have an alliance ( known as the Triple Entente). When Germany declared war on France and Russia it was in our alliance to defend our fellow friends.
The assasination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand was a shock for many countries but if you were to ask me I think the guy kinda had it coming. I don't mean murdering the man was the best approach but for years and years Serbia has been trying to gain it's independance from Austria-Hungarian rule but they refuse to listen. The Black Hand Gang ( the group that actually shot the Duke) were trying to do what they felt was right and necessary for their country, though they took it to an extreme not very much needed. In Britian not a lot of people really had an opinion about the assasination and most say we just entered this war to prove that we have better naval power than Germany thinks it has. Which in all honesty we do ! But still, there is more important reasoning behind our entry, the largest being an alliance that we intend to fulfil, the ignorance of the German's for breaking into a neutral country that had no intention of entering the war, and a minute amount of competitive nature.
^^^The poster above is the one that first got me interested in the war. It was hanging on the window of a pawn shop right down the road from my house back home. It's got a catching slogan and it made me feel proud to be a "fit Briton" as the poster calls it, that's why I joined.
When I first told my mother I was going to join the war she nearly lost her head. I swear I had never seen that woman so mad! She went on ranting and raving about how dangerous it was for a "boy" of my age to do such a thing. But regardless of what she though I was still determined to go. My father thought it was a great idea, saying it would teach me responsibility and something about how military makes a boy a man and blah blah. I just wanted to be able to hold a gun that didn't shoot BB's. But anyways, me and my friend George went to sign up and within a day we got a response and were on our way to the training base. We went to a small camp and learned the basics like shoot and loading artilary and all that. Then from there we were shipped to the actual base where you stayed before they send you to the front ( I have a week until I leave!). It was here that we were taught our "game plan" for the war, basically the battle plan for how we were going to approach the Western Front. We are going to join our allies at the front and we will be divided into three different groups; artilery, machine boys, and OTT men (OTT- over the top). I hope I get to be a machine boy because I LOVE machine guns, plus it is the safest position in my opinion. Not that I am afraid, I mean c'mon, its just a few Germans.
Day One: Well today is the day me and George leave out for France. We were told yesterday that the Germans have now pushed the front down closer to Paris so we have some serious work to do. Neither myself nor George could sleep last night because of all our excitment so we sat there with a few of our other crew men and exchanged family photos and such .family_photo.jpg< That's the picture I had in my billfold, it's very old but it's all I have of the family. (I'm on the far left.) It was nice to meet everyone we would be with until this war was over. A lot of the soldiers think it won't last long because once Germany sees how much they have to fight, especially with Russia running the eastern side and us the western, they have no choice but to surrender. Oh and great news, I get to be a machine boy!
Month Two: It's been a really bad couple of weeks for us. Nearly forty men have already died, all over the top men..I sent a letter home for mom and dad but they haven't wrote back yet. George got a letter from his mother back home, she said his older brother Tom who is in the army as well mailed her and has gone mad. Evidently he has what they call "hallucinations" and he's got real bad shell shock. The army sent him home on acount of his insanity and all. The news hit George real hard, his brother was quite an inspiration to him. Not to mention Tom was the hardest of all the boys in our town, it's crazy to see what the war can do to you. I just hope I'm strong enough to get through it..
trenches.jpg This is just a picture of our trench we sleep in, it's no bed but it's the best we have.
overthetop.jpg These are some of the OTT men, my friend Steven is on the right.
Month Three: We got news today that Russia withdraw from the war. At first we were mad but it's for their own good I guess, they have a lot of economic problems and stuff going wrong in their country. But the good news is The United States of America has decided to join in the absence of Russia so I have a pretty good feeling about it. They have a lot of men and their pretty well industrialized, our sergent said the Americans know what they're doing so there is no need to worry. Hoo rah!
Month Four: I've got myself a new machine gun buddy, his name is John and he is from the U.S. He said he's real glad he came to join this war because he's never been to another counrty before and I thought that was kind of weird. I guess back at his home in Utah he was poor, he said all he did was farm from when the sun came up til it went down. He and I both think the war will be coming to an end here soon, hopefully, these trenches get mighty cold at night time. Especially with all the snow we've been having.
Month Five: Today was Christmas day. It was actually a pretty nice Christmas, not as good as the one's at home but still it was good for being in a war and all. One of the German's from the other side came walking and waving a flag. At first we thought we should shoot him but he looked sorta scared so we let him come and talk. He told us that him and the other Germans wanted to take a day off from shooting at each other on account of how today was the day Christ was born. We agreed and exchanged candy for cigarettes and alll that fun stuff. Then we had a game of football, John called it soccer but I'd never heard it called that before. But nevertheless it was a fun game, just like on the field back at home minus the sunshine and safety and added the guns and dead bodies..
My Homecoming: Today was the day I arrived home from leaving the war. It is so great to be back with my family and local friends. The countries have called an armistice, or at least that is the word from our sergent right before he told us we were free to go get our belongings and head home. Eventhough they called an armistice we all know who was really to blame, just no one will say it. Me and George had a long talk about how glad we were that we made it through this and he thanked me for beinga great pal to him when he kinda lost it about his brother. The night before we left when we got the good news there was a big party at our fort. Some of the other soldiers brought our saved up food and shared and an artilery fireman named David brought out a harmonica his mother sent him for Christmas. It was such a great night we all almost forgot about how cold the trenches were. We were all so releived and excited that this was finally settled.
Treaty Of Versailles: Today our leader, Lloyd George, signed a treaty that brought a final ending to the war. We won almost all issues that we had pressed for and were altogether pleased with the outcome. Germany was blamed for the war, it may not exactly be fair but it's what they get for attacking first. We got some of their colonies and lands they owned which was great because it increased our overseas empires while taking some of the German power away from them. We also got quite a few of their African and Middle Eastern "mandates" as my father called them. I guess those are territories that were once owned by Germans but now we're to control them until they canbecome their own independent little nations and such.All in all I think this war was ok, I know that there will never be another "World War" and that is for sure. This was indeed a war to end all wars.